[rajaramgna]

Originally Posted by mgastor2022grey

He did consider the Kylaq. But, in the Ambition trim, it has analog dials but a small touchscreen. In the Signature trim, it has a big touchscreen, but digital dials. He is a little picky, I know, but what can I say? Features and classiness should go hand-in-hand according to him. To give a comparo to that, was the VAG cars in their 1L guise was considered.

One more major question: How much power should a first car ideally have? He loves the turbo cars, but is worried if it might be too much power. If BHPians could comment on that, it would be really helpful.

Fun to drive quotient will be better in Skoda Kylaq, than Fronx. 1.0 TSI and Skoda ride tuning is the reason.

But since your post mentioned about feature issues in Kylaq variants, please ask your friend to prioritize fun to drive vs features/classiness.

Other good options will be C3 Turbo, Virtus/Slavia 1.0 (sedan).

For NA engines vs Turbo, If he can handle turbo lags and the power surge after turbo in city drives, it should be ok.
But the turbo power is what makes it fun and addictive in Highways.

Else Maruti 1.2 (other than Swift and Dzire) also might be good. It has adequate power, unless he does more amount of long highway drives. Go for used ones for 1.2 NA (since its his first car) and then he can buy new turbo car few years later.

[rkv_2401]

Originally Posted by mgastor2022grey

He is worried if it is too powerful for a first car, but he absolutely loves the engine. The only concern is, first car + 150 BHP = mess?

I wouldn't worry about that. If it had 250+ horses, then maybe.

My first car was a 112hp Elantra CRDi with barely any throttle response until 1500RPM and then a sudden, aggressive turbo kick (CRDi engines of those days were notorious for this). Driving it in the city felt like taming a wild horse.

My second car, 5 months into getting my license, was the Vento TSi w/ the quick shifting DSG.

I started driving around in both of these at 18, and it was fine/normal to me, so I wouldn't worry at all about 150 horses at 24. The 1.5TSi has good driveability throughout the rev range as well with no surprises, unlike my first car.

[KryptonMonkey]

My 2 cents on this topic:

1) Test drives are a MUST for the intended buyer. It's sounds like a lot of conclusions are being made from a FOMO perspective.
2) If budget is not a constraint, go for the 1.5 Turbo petrols (Verna, Virtus, Slavia, Taigun, Kushaq). Reason = You can choose to drive the 1.5 Turbo petrol slowly initially and with time and experience, utilize it to the fullest extent. The joy is in the learning curve. Plus that car becomes a long term keeper.
3) I would highly encourage this person to test drive the AT versions of these cars and not simply get hung up on MTs. Even though I enjoy driving MTs, the realities of Indian road and traffic conditions do take their toll eventually and this is where an AT will improve quality of life. Use the paddle shifters when in the mood and drive in the normal D mode otherwise.
4) Lastly, if MTs are the only serious consideration: Hyundai i20 Nline, Honda City (if not hung up on the Turbo requirement) and the usual suspects Verna, Virtus, Slavia 1.5 Turbos. The Taigun/Kushaq might appear manageable to a less experienced driver, but the Virtus/Slavia are the better products.

[Small Bot]

Are used cars ok? If so, the erstwhile i10 Nios 1.0L Turbo was an absolute hoot to drive within the city. Zippy little hatchback.

Otherwise, either the C3 Turbo or the Fronz 1.0L would suit the requirements perfectly, for a zippy new car.

[Utsav_199]

My take:-

The buyer seems to have his heart set on the VAG twins in 1.5 M flavour - go for them. He already has an SUV for parents, a saloon for a young turk like him is the way to go. 150 bhp is very much manageable, do not let that be a factor, it's not a 300 hp RWD thing.

Test drive everything, let him take his own time. Go for second test drives if needed.

[Bombastic]

A C3 Turbo (manual or automatic) is a compelling option. If driving pleasure is the main criterion and he is okay with a lack of feel-good (non-driving) features like a sunroof, ventilated seats, ADAS, etc., he can save lakhs of rupees that he can either invest in or use for upgrades down the line. In fact, the black edition looks smashing, too, and has a proper 45-liter tank now to boot.

[Xtremecrd]

Originally Posted by mgastor2022grey

Hey BHPians, hope you all had a good week.

My friend's son, who is around 24 years, has now decided to buy himself a car. He is an IT professional, who has been working for around a year, and has a decent income.



4) Tata Altroz 1.5 Diesel: He likes the power and torque of the diesel mill, and it is a user friendly car too. But, he is worried about missing out on the Turbo-Petrols of the VAG.

As a owner of BS6 ph2 diesel altroz, don't even bother to include this. Below are the list of cons.
1. Diesel altroz has huge lag of 2 to 3 seconds after pressing the accelerator to car moving forward. It does not like to move from below 2k rpm.
2. Part throttle has jerky fueling.
3. Cycle parts such as bearings and other parts tends to fail early. I had to replace crankshaft bearing within 6 months.
4. Plastic and rubber parts tends to fail within 1 year such as wipers failing within 2 months. Sunroof closing Plastic lid tends to fail within 6 months.
5. Tata quality control is horrible. I had water coming inside the spare wheel space drum due to inadequate packing / glue.
6. Service center are jam packed and very less in frequency, which leads to bad experience in service. The service center are good for regular service, but God forbid if you encounter problems then they are incapable to solve it fast.
7. Gearbox doesnot like to shift fast. It requires gentle touch like handling small babies. I had a misfortune of shifting fast from 5 to 2nd gear to prevent accident, the Gearbox refused to slot into 1st, 3rd and 5th. Only 2nd and 4th working. What happened was gear cables got out of its Plastic grooves and were unable to provide the leverage to slot into gear.
8. Paint quality is horrible. I have faced rusting, scratches without any External influence.

Now pros.
1. Car is built like a tank. If it met in accident with other cars, you might be hard pressed to find damages on your car. E.g. at signal, one guy touched my bumper in his slavia. His front grill got cracked but my car had not even 1 scratch.
2. Altroz is a very comfortable car on long distance running despite having stiff chassis and somewhat soft suspension (suspension is stiff below 40 km per hour). I used to travel pune to goa every month in my 2015 swift zdi, after 500 kms in was very tired in swift. But in altroz , i never got tired despite getting older i was ready for another 500 kms.
3. Ac is a bone chiller despite I am having dark edition variant. Chills the hot cabin within 1 min. But the calibration of ac by Tata is very poor. Ac keeps on chilling in auto ac mode despite very chilled cabin.
Fuel efficiency.
I am getting 16 kmpl as average in city and on long straight roads 24 kmpl. Very hard acceleration gives 12kmpl.

Misc problem
I had brake fluid spill out due to nut getting loose by vibration. I got to know the issue via error on dashboard.

DPF- not a single error. I usually drive with heavy right foot and duration of my trips are atleast half an hour.

I would not recommended Tata brand as a starting point of vehicular journey based on my experience.

Please check out Honda city. Take the base variant sv mt. Swap out the suspension to somewhat sporty one to reduce bouncyness. Get the good wheels and tyres. Customize it for you. It is very reliable car.
2nd car i would recommend is jimny MT for going offbeat locations.
Above all just test ride all the cars you have shortlisted and select the only car which tugs at your emotions. Don't believe the specs. They will say some cars are better on paper, but are downright bad to drive. Just don't reject the cars if the specs are bad, sometime as a whole car will be absolute hoot to drive.
Above all trust your gut.

[abaliga]

He did consider the Kylaq. But, in the Ambition trim, it has analog dials but a small touchscreen. In the Signature trim, it has a big touchscreen, but digital dials. He is a little picky, I know, but what can I say? Features and classiness should go hand-in-hand according to him. To give a comparo to that, was the VAG cars in their 1L guise was considered.

One more major question: How much power should a first car ideally have? He loves the turbo cars, but is worried if it might be too much power. If BHPians could comment on that, it would be really helpful.

All turbo petrols are quite powerful and fast, so a first time driver needs to be careful initially, I would recommend the Kylaq 1.0 TSI over the Skoda/VW 1.5 TSI options as it is plenty fast, also the 1.0 TSI is a nice free revving engine and does not have that annoying boom at rpms over 4k that is so apparent on 1.5 TSIs, regarding the touchscreen infotainment, there is an android based touchscreen being offered by Skoda as an official accessory for the lower variants, this unit has all features one can expect from an infotainment unit including a reversing camera, so you can buy the lower variant with analogue instrument cluster and get the dealer installation for the infotainment (guess around 25-30k).

[07CR]

As an owner of fronx 1.2 NA the chassis is anything but fun. It's made for comfortable rides, that's it. There's very low feedback from the steering and the body roll despite low height is much more than my ecosport S.

I would suggest to checkout the Verna/Virtus/seltos 1.5 turbos, but these are very very powerful cars.

Instead a used route should be good. A facelifted ecosport in any guise (1.5 dragon petrol/1.0 Ecoboost petrol/1.5 tdci) should be the apt one. Even aspire/Figo and freestyle in their diesels are very fun to drive.

Ps- I recently picked up a facelifted ecosport Ecoboost S variant and couldn't be happier with its fun to drive quotient! Saved quite a bit of moolah as well!

[NinerWhiskey]

Originally Posted by mgastor2022grey

So, what are your views? What car do you think he needs to pick? Please do provide your insights on this matter, all help is greatly appreciated.

The Virtus/Slavia is a solid pick in today's offerings. Most people in today's time think sedans are bad as they scrape their bottom against speed breakers, That isn't true. The ground clearance is similar to that of a hatchback. It's the wheelbase that's ever so slightly longer making for a bad turning radius. On some cars, It's the poorly designed plastic Engine splash guards that scrapes the illegal speed breakers. Sedans are the purest form of urban cars. The engine splash guard is not an issue with the German sisters as it is with the Honda City.

A significant downside of driving a sedan is the low comfortable seating position which is an eyesore thanks to ill-educated drivers who always drive with high beam on from the opposite side.

If he wants raw power and a car that looks elegant while being problem free, I think the Honda City will do fine for a really long time. Otherwise for his conditions I would prefer him to choose one of the 2 German sisters.

[venukrithish]

He should try the uber fun C3 turbo. Fronx turbo and i20 n line are enthusiastic options. Kylaq also seems to be a fun handler but haven't tried it personally.

[ellip5i5]

Given the budget that is alluded to, how about the BE6? It should appeal to an enthusiast and maybe in a year or so he can grow into handling the power, torque and will need some oversight till then

[Sid94]

The VW Group twins are honestly the ones to go for! I’ve had my Taigun GT for over a year and a half now, and before that, I test-drove pretty much everything in the ₹25–50L range. Nothing really comes close to the Taigun, Virtus, or their Skoda cousins when it comes to pure driving fun.

The Compass’ drivetrain felt dated, and having lived with a Fiat Linea T-Jet (still do!), I wasn’t keen on dealing with Fiat’s service experience again. The Tucson impressed with its acceleration and ride, but it felt completely disconnected. I had actually shortlisted it, but in the end, the Taigun just made more sense—compact, reasonably spacious, and way more engaging to drive.

Sure, you give up a few features, but honestly, it's worth it for the driving experience alone. Fuel economy might be a deal-breaker for some—expect around 8 km/l in the city and 14 on the highway. NVH and low-speed comfort aren’t great either. But if you’re okay with those trade-offs, the decision is a no-brainer.

I don’t think the 1.5 GT is too much for a first car either. I’ve got the DSG, and while 150 horses in 2025 won’t blow anyone away, it’s quick and smooth. That said, the acceleration is a bit too linear for a turbo-petrol—feels more grown-up than exciting at times.

But that VAG turbo-petrol + chassis combo? Still one of the most fun setups out there. It’s got its own character, and it’s engaging without being overwhelming. Manual transmissions are a dying breed, and honestly, if you’re 24 and into driving, the Taigun or Virtus GT with a slick manual 'box is the way to go. I drove the Linea T-Jet daily for years, and I see a similar spirit in these cars.

So yeah—go for it. Cars like this are getting rarer by the day. Most manufacturers are chasing screens, features, and numbers. The VAG twins still care about driving feel—and that’s something truly worth holding on to.

[KnK]

Originally Posted by mgastor2022grey

He too is an enthusiast, and even though he is not a member, he follows the forum regularly. This post was requested on behalf of him. He is a person who loves driving MT cars. A bit of backstory: His dad (my friend) owns a Seltos IVT, and he drives it, just like when he is present (for the lack of a better word, like how a son drives his dad's car). He now desires a car for himself that he can enjoy.

My humble suggestion -
If he is having the budget for a Fronx turbo / Kylaq
I would suggest him to definitely consider the Citroen Basalt. It comes at the price of Fronx and its a well rounded package - peppy and powerful 1.2 turbo charged petrol with drooling 205 nm of torque and with the excpetional ride and handling combination and above all its a proper 4.3 meter suv coupe.

If he is not vehemently against automatics he can very well try out the superb 6 speed TC also in Basalt.

Anyways its better to atleast have a test drive of Citroen cars - either Basalt or C3 hatch (if there is budget constraint.)

[heydj]

What has first car got to with it being too powerful? Ask him to drive sensibly and slowly until there is confidence and as he gets used to the dynamics then only switch to sports mode etc.

From this list I recommend Taigun MT as its robust, very good to dive and he will in few years become experienced and then he will love the fact he bought something so good. Also MT is a dying breed in VAG 1.5 cars so it's now or never.